Robert Fleming (17 March 1845 – 31 July 1933) was a Scottish financier and philanthropist. He was the founder of
merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.
Early life
Robert Fleming was born in 1845 in
Dundee. His father was a bookkeeper.
Career
Fleming got his start at the age of 13 working for local textile firm, Messrs Edward Baxter and Son. By 21, he was Edward Baxter's private clerk. In time, Fleming had learned enough about investment procedures from Baxter to oversee the firm's American holdings.
Fleming launched the Scottish American Investment Trust in 1873, the first of the Scottish
investment trusts. He went on to become an international financier in London, establishing the investment bank that bore his name for more than a century and out of which the Fleming Collection of Scottish art and the Fleming Collection Gallery was born.
A contemporary of
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
and a close business associate and friend of
Jacob Schiff
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...
of
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., Fleming was widely known and respected in financial circles on both sides of the Atlantic. He was one of the shrewdest investors of his generation and an acknowledged expert in the financing of American railroads. One of his less successful ventures was the 1908 takeover of the bankrupt works of
Algoma Steel
Algoma Steel Inc. (formerly Algoma Steel; Essar Steel Algoma) is an integrated primary steel producer located on the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Its products are sold in Canada and the United States as well as overseas ...
in
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...
, but he had the foresight to associate with the project
James Hamet Dunn
Sir James Hamet Dunn, 1st Baronet (October 29, 1874 – January 1, 1956) was a Canadian financier and industrialist during the first half of the 20th century. He is recognized chiefly for his 1935 rescue and subsequent 20-year presidency and propri ...
, who would come to control the works from 1935.
Philanthropy
He made many generous bequests to the city and the new
University College
In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
. The Fleming Gymnasium (opened in 1905
and now housing Forensic Medicine) still bears his name.
The Fleming Gardens Estate in Dundee was erected as a result of a gift of £155,000 Fleming made to improve worker's housing. His gift is commemorated in a plaque and balustraded viewpoint at the junction of Clepington Road and Hindmarsh Avenue.
Personal life
He was the father of
Valentine Fleming and
Philip Fleming. He was the grandfather of novelist
Ian Fleming and writer
Peter Fleming.
Sir John Fleming
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
, onetime Lord Provost of Aberdeen and later a local MP, was a younger brother.
Death
He died in 1933 and is buried in St. Bartholomew's Church in
Nettlebed
Nettlebed is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire in the Chiltern Hills about northwest of Henley-on-Thames and southeast of Wallingford. The parish includes the hamlet of Crocker End, about east of the village. The 2011 Census recor ...
,
Oxfordshire. His will was proven on 8 September, with his estate amounting to £2,174,803 15s. 10d. (calculated to be equivalent to £ in ).
Notes
References
*
External links
The Fleming Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Robert
1845 births
1933 deaths
People educated at the High School of Dundee
Scottish bankers
People from Dundee
19th-century Scottish businesspeople
20th-century Scottish businesspeople
People associated with the University of Dundee
Scottish philanthropists
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
Businesspeople from Dundee